


Onward

by Vialana



Series: Hope [11]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, POV Outsider, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 12:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11921010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vialana/pseuds/Vialana
Summary: Team Voltron get glimpses into Keith and Lance’s developing relationship.





	Onward

**Author's Note:**

> This is it! The end! I'm so happy and yet so sad that it's all over now.
> 
> This has been such a wonderful ride. This is my first longer finished work/series in quite a few years and the reaction to these fics has been fantastic. Thank you everyone who commented, gave kudos, and read these stories. I am so glad to share them with you.
> 
> Now, I hope you enjoy the final installment of the Hope series!

The team had just come off a rather difficult mission, so it was decided that they should find a quiet bit of space in which to park the castle and have a few quinants of rest. For the paladins, this meant no scheduled training or missions. Hunk and Pidge had decided to work on some of the projects piling up in Green and Yellow’s hangars. Allura was taking time to catch up on her rest after overexerting herself—again—creating too many sequential wormholes. Coran _had_ intended to do maintenance in the med bay, but it was the last two paladins who disrupted that plan.

Keith had talked Lance into some light training after breakfast, not that Lance had needed much prodding to spend time with the other paladin. Hunk and Pidge had declined, citing something about special alone time that Coran was certain, from the context and tone, was not at all what the training deck should be used for. Lance’s blush and Keith’s scowl seemed to back his deduction.

(It would hardly be the first time the room had been used in such a manner. He decided pretending ignorance would be kinder than informing them of this fact. This new set of paladins had some strange notions about propriety regarding certain topics of conversation. Or at least when Coran discussed them. Earthlings. Strange species.)

It appeared, however, that the two were in fact training, judging by the injury to Keith’s arm.

Coran stopped at the threshold, about to call out and inquire if they needed assistance but stopped. Something about their posture seemed wrong.

Keith was sitting up on one of the examination beds, arm outstretched, a healing salve already slathered over the clean wound. It didn’t look too severe; Keith didn’t seem all that concerned by it. He was, however, very concerned with Lance, whose hands were shaking so much that the bandage he was trying to wrap around Keith’s forearm kept sliding off.

“Damnit.” Lance threw the bandages aside, the roll of white cloth unravelling as it made its way to the corner of the room.

“Hey.” Keith reached up with his uninjured hard to cup Lance’s chin and gently pull him close. “Lance, what’s going on?”

Lance twisted his head from Keith’s grip and refused to make eye contact. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

Keith snorted. Even if Lance’s lie weren’t completely transparent, his voice gave him away by breaking on the word “fine”.

Lance let out a breath and his shoulders slumped. Keith reached out again to brush his fingers against Lance’s cheek; this time Lance leaned into the touch.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Just tell me.”

Lance sighed. “We … we never actually talked, did we?” Keith tilted his head as he often did when unsure about something. “About this.” Lance gestured widely around him.

“The med bay?”

“Yes. Well, us being here. You being here. Getting hurt.” Lance reached out and let his hand hover over the wound on Keith’s arm, not touching but wanting to offer comfort. “You have a tendency to throw yourself into danger without thinking about how it would affect anyone else. How it might affect me.”

Keith hunched in on himself. “If I recall, you were the last person in one of those things,” he replied defensively, gesturing to the pods.

“I know. And I swear on this team’s life that it will never happen again.”

Keith inhaled sharply. “Lance … you … you can’t promise that.”

Lance stood up straight, Keith’s hand falling from his cheek. “Yes I can!” His indignation fled as he took in Keith’s upset frown. “Well, I can at least promise that I will do everything I can to avoid it coming to that ever again.”

Keith took in his determined expression and slumped forward, leaning his forehead against Lance’s chest. He grabbed at the front of Lance’s shirt with his uninjured hand. “Please do. I hated every moment watching you in there.”

Lance leaned over and wrapped his arms around Keith’s back, engulfing him with his presence. “You gotta promise too. Just seeing you with a scratch like that makes me fall apart.”

“I promise.” The words were muffled by Lance’s shirt, but firm enough for even Coran to hear tucked behind the wall in the hallway by the open door.

Lance let his head rest atop Keith’s, his eyes falling shut as a relieved smile crossed his face.

Coran backed away from the med bay and the intimacy of the scene inside. Maintenance could wait. There was sure to be some work still to do on the teleduv. Or the engines. Or the control room. Or anywhere that wasn’t the med bay, really.

Coran hummed as he made his way back towards the elevator. He was glad Lance had taken their talk to heart. He wanted to see what wonders those two would do together. Being able to see such a romance blossom was worth every painful memory in his life. He could only hope that all of his new charges would find some happiness in their lives as paladins and not just pain and war.

Though, judging by by the scene he just witnessed, his hope was not unfounded.

 

* * *

 

Allura was exhausted. Their last mission was just the latest in a series of drawn out battles that ended in their retreat from battle as much as it did in victory. The Galra were starting to recover from the loss of Zarkon and had found a new energy for their fighting spirit. The paladins, however, were down a Lion and could not form Voltron. They were quick and determined fighters, so they often managed even without Shiro and the Black Lion, but recently the Galra had seemed much more active and pushed further in their fights than they had before.

Perhaps the lack of Voltron on the field of battle had bolstered their spirits.

Regardless of why, the Galra were persistent in their determination to destroy Voltron and far outnumbered the small castle ship and four Lions. They could barely manage a few vargas rest between battles it seemed. Their last downtime had to be cut short for a distress beacon, and then another, and then another.

Perhaps it was this endless slog that truly brought defeat rather than a single decisive victory. Allura recalled how worn her father looked before he sent her to sleep, how downtrodden her planet had become as she walked through the streets.

She hoped it would never come to that with this new team, but she had very little idea how to stop it.

With a sigh, she relinquished the controls to the castle ship. They were in a safe place for now. She was adamant that they got some rest. They had a meeting with the Blade of Marmora in two quintants regarding another joint operation and she intended to spend that time ensuring they were all ready for battle.

Coran smiled at her from his control panel as she stepped down and moved to the door.

“Make sure you eat something too, princess.”

“Of course. You get some rest too Coran.”

“I will. I just need to finish calibrating this new frequency disrupter Hunk and Pidge came up with.” He laughed fondly. “Those two have some of the strangest notions but they always manage to make it work somehow.”

Allura smiled. “We are lucky to have them with us.”

“Indeed.”

Allura slipped out of the room, listening to the fading sound of Coran’s humming as he rewired his console. Her footsteps echoed in the hallway. She still missed the days when the castle was full of people. Walking, talking,  _ living _ .

In time, she was certain, the castle would be full again. They just had to get through this war first.

Allura decided to pass through the common room on her way to the kitchen. It was the most lively room in the castle. The paladins were always making a mess and leaving their belongings all over the room (often where she could trip on them). Shiro used to joke about the bad habits of teenage boys which confused Allura; Pidge was far worse than all the other paladins combined.

On one of the long couches, Lance and Keith sat side by side, fast asleep. They had removed parts of their armour but still had their boots and leg plates on. Lance still had one of his gauntlets attached. Their helmets and chest pieces lay on the floor in front of them.

Allura should have woken them to scold them about properly caring for their uniforms but she couldn’t bring herself to do it this time. They were slumped on the couch, barely upright only because they were leaning into each other. Lance’s head lay on Keith’s shoulder, his body curled so that his hands rested on Keith’s thigh, one of Keith's hands trapped in his own. Keith’s head rested on Lance’s hair, his slow breath ruffling the short locks in a steady rhythm.

Even in the midst of war there was happiness and love. Allura could never forget that.

Instead of waking the two peaceful paladins, Allura found one of the blankets Hunk took to storing around the room and laid it over the sleeping warriors. Neither moved as it settled around their shoulders; they were so exhausted that possibly only a castle alarm would wake them. Even then, she was almost certain they would only wake due to habit.

She dimmed the lights and left them to their rest, continuing on her trek through the castle.

It was not, perhaps, as cold and lonely as she first thought.

 

* * *

 

Hunk was trying to concentrate.

On their last mission, the team had made contact with a planet with abundant natural resources and the sort of civilised culture that Hunk loved to meet. Namely, they had a hospitality industry and a level of engineering that meant traditional recipes weren’t just variations of burnt meat on a stick with vegetables boiled over an open fire.

They had mills and ovens and _agriculture_. Irrigation. Indoor plumbing. Actual restaurants!

In particular, he’d been incredibly impressed with a cooking device that seemed to have multiple functionality as a food processor, a juicer and a slow cooker. It was like one of those ridiculous infomercial machines back on Earth and Hunk had to have one (for four easy installments of $19.95). Altean engineering was amazing, but there was something to be said about over-engineering. Like they did with “food”.

So while normally team Voltron would wave away any offers of rewards, Hunk had pleaded with the princess to let him have two of the machines as well as some produce. Considering that the Menvar had initially offered far more in regards to a reward (and were confused as to why such a simple and cheap machine would be of any value to a team of great warriors) and that he had the backing of all the other paladins, Allura had agreed.

Now, Hunk _should_ have been happily engaged in the kitchen pureeing some fruit and baking up a feast with the first Menvar miracle food machine.

(The second machine was already sequestered in Yellow’s hanger waiting for him to pull apart to see if he could reverse engineer it or find a way to turn it into an ice-cream machine. Coran refused to let him pull apart or tinker with the food goo machines which might have been easier to repurpose given the consistency of goo. Hunk was glad he had potentially found another way. He missed ice-cream so much.)

Unfortunately, his plans had been derailed by two rather handsy paladins who had offered to “help” him with the celebratory dinner.

Admittedly, Keith was pretty good with a knife and Hunk knew he could trust Lance in a kitchen given how often he’d been roped into helping his family with all sorts of chores back home, including cooking. Individually, they made for great helpers and let him give the orders in his domain.

Together—especially now they were  _ together _ —they were a disaster waiting to happen.

“Lance! Watch it!” Keith’s knife slipped on the chopping board, barely missing his fingers, when Lance brushed up behind him and slid a hand up the back of his shirt.

“Sorry.” Lance’s cheeky grin belied his remorse. “I’ll make it up to you.”

“Oh yeah?” Keith looked over his shoulder with that stupid challenging grin that never failed to get a rise out of Lance.

And of course, Lance didn’t disappoint. He pressed in close behind Keith and slid both his hands around Keith’s waist, lingering on his hips and pushing down underneath——

Hunk slammed his cooking spoon down on his bench top with a loud smack that had the two jumping away from each other and staring over at Hunk in shock as though they had actually forgot he was there.

Hunk was in no mood to deal with this. “No!  _ No! _ Out!” He pointed firmly at the door.

Lance had the gall to look offended. “What? Hunk, I——”

“No. I don’t care.” Hunk crossed his arms over his chest. “This is a place of peace and happiness and food and you two are disrupting the positive vibes.”

Keith, at least, looked a little abashed but Lance was still pouting. “But what about the taste testing?”

“Pidge is gonna be my taste tester from now on.”

“What?!”

“You forfeited that right the instant I saw you try to give Keith——”

“Okay!” Keith was bright red as he interrupted Hunk. He clapped a hand over Lance’s mouth and pulled him towards the door, not even stopping to remove his borrowed apron. Lance struggled in his hold, still trying to protest being thrown out of the kitchen. “We’ll leave.”

Hunk continued to glare at them. “If I ever find out you two have defiled my sacred space, you _will_ be sorry.”

“I believe you. I promise, it will never happen.”

Hunk narrowed his gaze. Keith was way too embarrassed to be lying about this. Hunk just wasn’t sure he could trust Lance not to convince Keith into doing something stupid. “It better not,” he said in warning.

Keith nodded and yanked on Lance’s shirt to pull him completely out of the room. The door slid closed behind them but Hunk could hear Lance yelling indignantly as they moved away down the hallway. He waited until he couldn’t hear their voices any more before returning to his prep.

Hunk was happy the two of them were happy, really, but he was absolutely not kidding about catching the two of them in the kitchen. Maybe he could ask Coran about selective permissions on the door lock.

He also wasn’t kidding about Pidge being his taste tester but it probably wouldn’t be forever. Not that he’d tell Lance that. Seriously, he was happy his best bud was getting some loving, but Lance desperately needed to learn some restraint. Hunk did not want to see that sort of thing in public areas of the castle—especially not anywhere near his food. Why was no one else concerned with proper hygiene?!

(Maybe he should also ask Coran about investing in some extra sanitiser. Just in case.)

 

* * *

 

Pidge probably shouldn’t be up so late.

(To be fair, this was a self-flagellating refrain she repeated most nights, so it was no wonder she stopped listening to herself when it came to her sleeping habits.)

Thing was, she was so close to getting this internal sensor device working. It just needed a few more tweaks and then she could finally test it out. She hated leaving projects unfinished when they were so close to completion. She might have slipped off to bed a varga ago if she hadn’t just figured out a way around that weird frequency that distorted readings around the training deck.

She let out a breath and rubbed at her eyes. The lights in the hangar were starting to pulse and Green was grumbling as though  _ she _ needed to sleep too. Maybe she could leave it, just this once.

Her software dinged. Her simulation had finished.

Green all the way. No problems. The program was ready.

Pidge grinned.

She scrambled to her feet and stumbled over to her workbench. She plugged her laptop into the lead that synced her hardware with the castle and hooked herself into the castle sensor systems—specifically into the sandbox she’d created and quarantined for testing her modifications. (Coran had insisted after that time she accidentally set off the fire suppressant system while trying to clean noise from the castle-wide intercom system.)

It took a few seconds to load, but a full map of the castle popped up on her screen.

“Yes! Pidge, you are a genius, if I do say so myself.” She let herself bask in the glory of success for a moment before her eagerness to dig into the system overcame her.

There were similarities to many other existing operational systems, which made sense given that many systems in the castle relied on the 3D mapping that lay at the base of most of the castle’s functionality. While Allura had direct access to the software that allowed her to scan for threats and tracking devices that were foreign to the castle, she didn’t have the ability to scan for entities, organisms, and devices that the castle considered friendly. Which could be a problem in case of an emergency and they got separated during a fire or trapped in one of the still unstable parts of the ship.

The functionality was there, already built into the system, it had just been turned off years ago (near the first launch of the castle, in fact) and the software had been corrupted over time. Pidge did understand why—theoretically, this was an invasion of privacy. But just being able to see _where_ a person was in the ship wasn’t that much of a big deal, right? Most of the paladins knew anyway. It was hard to keep a secret with just seven (six) people around.

Ultimately, the decision would be up to Allura if she wanted to use the software or not and Pidge would abide by her decision. Allura would probably only ever want to use it in an emergency anyway and she had other ways to find threats so, really, this probably wasn’t going to impact anyone’s life in any significant way.

Pidge nodded, happy with her rationalisations, and dove into the software.

(She needed to make sure it worked, okay? And everyone was probably asleep in their rooms anyway. It was no big deal just this once.)

She flicked through the maps of each level, making sure the coding worked. She paid close attention to the training deck, but the weird frequency fluctuation didn’t disrupt the program this time around. The hangers were fine, all the Lions accounted for. Coran was in the break room by the engines. (She should probably bring that up with Allura; they needed Coran at his best. Those cots were seriously uncomfortable and the whine from the engines was not conducive to a restful sleep no matter what Coran said about his time on that cargo ship during his undercover operation as a mercenary.)

She reached the residencies and her fingers paused over her keyboard.

Everyone was _not_ asleep in their rooms.

Lance was missing.

Pidge’s heart stopped for a moment and started beating faster. Where——

Oh.

A blue dot was snuggled up to a red dot in Keith’s room, so close that her first glance at the map missed it completely.

“Really?” She wrinkled her nose. “Gross.” Bad enough that the two of them started holding hands and kissing in the hallway, now she had to know for certain they slept in the same room (the same bed!) at night?

(It was absolutely not cute and heartwarming, okay?)

Pidge quickly finished her run through of the rest of the levels and closed the program, happy to leave any further testing for tomorrow now that she knew the software worked. She’d talk to Allura too and would be more than happy to never have to use the program except of in an emergency again.

Pidge yawned as she shut down her computer and unhooked the castle link. Her Lion nudged at her, filling her mind with the warm and cozy impression of her bed. Her back ached as she stretched out.

Yeah, okay. She should probably get a proper night’s rest for once.

She left the hanger and headed to her room, content in the knowledge that her team—her second family—was all safe and accounted for.

 

* * *

 

Shiro shouldn’t have been surprised at how easy it was to slip back into his role on the castle ship after being gone for so long, but there were many things about the team that surprised him after his long absence.

Well, his role—and the team—wasn’t  _ exactly  _ the same as before. Keith was still leading the team despite Shiro taking up the mantle of the pilot for the Black Lion. (Shiro was so relieved and felt so guilty about that, but Keith was thriving and the rest of the team supported him. Shiro knew he’d made the right call, but he still couldn’t help feeling like he’d just thrown his responsibilities into Keith’s lap and walked away without care. Intellectually, he knew it wasn’t true, but every time he caught Keith with his shoulders slumped, giving in to his exhaustion, he couldn’t help the uneasy churning in his gut.)

So, yes, surprised, but more that the new role he now had in this team was so easy for him to fill—like they’d designed a hole around the possibility of his return even as they rearranged themselves and took on new responsibilities and positions within the group.

Shiro was incredibly proud to see what the team had accomplished in his absence and so touched that they still wanted him to be a part of it.

Pidge had cuffed the back of his head when he tried to say something to that effect and Hunk almost broke his ribs squeezing him in a hug.

“That’s not how families work,” Lance had said. “You’ll always be a part of us.”

Shiro had given up on pretending he wasn’t about to cry. He let himself go completely when _Keith_ was the one to initiate the group hug that lasted almost half a varga.

(He loved them all so much; he didn’t even realise how much until he saw them again for the first time since defeating Zarkon. Hearing Keith’s voice, seeing Hunk standing so tall, Lance’s unbridled joy, Pidge running toward him. He sometimes still woke with the feeling that all of this happiness was a dream to keep him going during his captivity. But, whenever he walked out of his room, Allura was ready with a smile and warm tea and Coran was at his post, always watchful for danger. He started sleeping easier again. Each day was a step forward, a step further away from his nightmares, and Shiro was bursting to run.)

Missions were easier than he remembered. They weren’t a team still figuring themselves out now; they were warriors with experience and skill and a dedication to their cause. It was astonishing to see how much all of them had improved over time.

(Shiro had been right—Keith was a natural leader. He just needed the right team to trust in him. Lance was amazing in his support, he always seemed to know just what was needed in any fight—or even outside of battle. Pidge’s talents had been honed to deadly perfection and she was opening up to everyone; still so determined to find her family, she now let others help her and push her into taking care of herself even if it was only by distracting her and making her laugh. Hunk was amazing; he’d always had the potential, but he no longer seemed to doubt himself—he carried the title of paladin with a pride the drew others close and let them feel safe and cared for.)

The most remarkable change, however, was one Shiro didn’t notice until after their second major mission together with him back in the Black Lion’s cockpit.

There hadn’t been time to do much more than assess his team’s skills in battle and immediately obvious personal growth given that they’d had to fight skirmishes constantly as the Galra continued to push at the growing resistance. They’d only formed Voltron once before the last battle and it seemed to have shaken the Galra, who had likely thought the weapon gone for good.

This latest operation, aided by one of the rebel groups the Galra was so concerned with wiping out, had been a cause for huge celebration in the quadrant in how decisive the victory had been over the Galra fleet in the area.

Shiro had been back only two weeks, but he was already glad to have some downtime.

The planet they landed on was the meeting point for the coalition of planets in nearby systems they had liberated from the Galra. It was beautiful, with landscapes of blue-green grass rolling to the horizon to meet the pale green sky. The meeting place was an ancient city nestled near the hills in the grasslands, uninhabited but well-cared for by the locals. White stone rose from the ground in asymmetrical shapes to form buildings; roads twisted in circles, meeting up in crossroads decorated with flowers and bunting. In the centre of the city was a statue of an ancient deity with its head tilted to the sky and arms raised in supplication. A wide circle of cobbled stone surrounded it, filled now with people of many races come to show their gratitude and celebrate their freedom.

Shiro was delighted by the event; he hadn’t heard music in what seemed like eons. Food and drink were plentiful and all of the locals and coalition aliens chattered excitedly. It was cheering to see something good and joyful for once.

Someone cleared their throat nearby. Shiro had tucked himself into a nook on the edge of the circle, which was now filled with people dancing. Allura had sought him out.

She smiled and Shiro couldn’t help returning the gesture. It was so good to see her relaxing, to see her victorious in this war that had taken so much from her. He gestured for her to join him on the waist-high stone wall he'd claimed as his seat. She accepted his invitation and sat close enough for him to feel her warmth even under his armour.

“I never tire of sights like this,” she said, looking out at the whirling mass of people.

“I hope you never do.” Shiro stared at the brightly coloured lights strung up around the gathering place. The sun had sunk low enough that they had all been lit and now dazzled the crowd beneath with shifting hues. “I won’t.”

“I’m glad that we have some time to rest.” Allura picked up his flesh hand and held it between her own. “I wanted to see how you were coping.”

Shiro smiled at her, a genuine expression. “I’m actually doing well. Thank you.”

She stared closely at him, her lips pursed. “Truly?”

Shiro nodded, ducking his head bashfully as she continued to stare. “Honestly. Sometimes it feels like I haven’t been gone at all. And, despite the constant battles, just being with the team again has helped so much.”

“I’m glad.” She squeezed his hand but didn’t let go.

Shiro coughed, trying to draw back from the intimacy of the moment. “Things like this help too.” He gestured with his prosthetic hand to the crowd and the music and the lights. “It’s always nice to see how much of a difference we make.”

“Indeed.”

The two of them sat there, hand-in-hand, and watched the dancers turn around the circle under the light of the setting sun, watched over by a peaceful deity strewn with garlands of lights and flowers. The music flowed through the normally empty city and invited them all to join in and experience the joy.

Shiro sat up straighter as he spotted something unusual. “Oh.”

Allura perked up, following his line of sight to see what had him so startled. She relaxed when she saw what grabbed his attention. “Ah.” She looked at him with a mischievous smile. “You didn’t know?”

Shiro shrugged, still caught on the sight of Lance and Keith holding each other close as they danced. “I knew some, but I didn’t know this.”

He watched them move, saw how their hands clasped tight. He watched Lance dip Keith in a silly manoeuvre that almost tripped them and the three other couples around them. Keith swatted at lance’s shoulder, but he was laughing, eyes bright with happiness.

Shiro had never seen Keith smile like that, so unbridled and joyful.

And Lance: he moved with such grace and energy, but every motion of his body was attuned to Keith. His gaze never left Keith’s face and his own smile was so soft and delighted.

“He kept his promise.”

Allura looked at him quizzically.

Shiro shook his head, his own fond smile refusing to leave. “Lance. He promised that all he wanted was to see Keith smile.”

Allura’s smile was also fond as she turned to regard the two dancing paladins again. “I’m glad that Keith also makes him smile.”

“Me too.” Another thing that surprised him. He was genuinely happy for the two of them. They obviously cared so much about each other, and Shiro had also seen them in battle. They worked well together and looked out for each other. They made a fantastic team. “I’m glad they found each other.”

“I’m glad we all found each other.” Shiro turned back to Allura. “I can’t imagine my life now without any of you in it.”

Shiro squeezed her hand, doing what little he could to comfort her.

She hopped down from the wall, still holding his hand. “Would you like to dance, Shiro?”

Shiro’s eyes widened at the question. Allura waited patiently for his answer and he knew that she would accept whatever he decided to do.

He looked over her shoulder and Keith and Lance, still holding on, still smiling.

“You know what?” Shiro got to his feet. “I really would like to dance.”

Allura’s smile was more brilliant than every sunset he’d ever seen. It put the joyful festivities of this celebration to shame and left him breathless.

Shiro let himself be led into the crowd and wrapped up in the music and movement. He reveled in the feel of Allura’s hands clasped in his own.

He was home.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on Tumblr: [ladyvialana](https://ladyvialana.tumblr.com/)


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